The Uchiha Demon
by imaninja41
Summary: Inari Uchiha has very few desires. Protect her family, her village, and her teammates. Be a good role model for her younger cousin, Sarada. Make her Uncle Sasuke proud. And a more recent one, become a team leader. Will the Hokage trust her to train the new generation of genin? Will the village ever accept her when they know her father is Itachi?
1. Chapter 1

" _My name…" My voice shook as I used my nearly broken body to shield the three helpless genin behind me. They held fear in their eyes, but also hope. They trusted that because I was their jonin, I wouldn't let them die here. Even with one nearly dead, they still hoped I would get them out of here._

" _Is Inari Uchiha!"_

 _They didn't see me as a monster. Or a necessary evil. To them, I was their hero, their mentor, and their only hope._

" _And you will never have the sharingan!"_

"Inari!"

My eyes snapped open, seeing Sakura standing over me, worry in her eyes. "You were thrashing in your sleep again… is something wrong?"

I sat up in bed, looking her in the eyes. "Did I make any noise?"

She sighed, "No. I could only sense your chakra level spiking from out in the hall way."

I slipped my feet into my black sandals, shrugging. "Nothing I need to bring up to anyone then. As long as I'm not making noise in my sleep, it won't put any missions in danger."

She rested a hand on my shoulder as I stood up, her voice going firm. She might be soft around Sarada and me, but she was head medical ninja of the village. She had the most authoritative voice out of anyone I knew. "Inari, I know you don't like talking about things like this, but I'm worried. If you don't learn to deal with your stress, you're going to bring your team down. Sarada already has her exams coming up, she doesn't need to stress herself out more by worrying about you."

I prided myself on my skill at a blank expression, but with that low blow from Sakura, I winced. I had been acting as an older sister to Sarada since she was born. I had barely been six years old. From the moment she was born, I had been protecting her.

Sasuke had been off with Jugo and Suigetsu tracking down an enemy of the hidden leaf village. Karin had been helping Sakura give birth, a long a painful process I had the misfortune of hearing through the thin walls of one of Orochimaru's abandoned hideouts. Sasuke had given me clear instructions before he left. "Protect them."

At six years old, I had stood guard in that hideout, a sword much too big for me strapped to my back. I had no intentions to use the sword, however. I was better at ninjutsu than taijutsu… My sharingan had been awakened long ago, and that night, I had used it to its full potential.

It had been my first mission, and despite the challenges I had faced that night, it had been a success.

But it was only one of many missions Sasuke had tasked me with.

He had to come and go over the next few days, and before every goodbye was the same mission statement. "Protect them."

Sakura got stronger, and Karin didn't need to be by their side. "Protect them", now meant protect Sakura and Sarada. Days turned into weeks in that hideout, and eventually Sakura had to leave as well, to get supplies. "Protect them" turned into "Protect Sarada."

That mission had never ended.

 _When Sasuke left for a mission that he was sure would last years, he had playfully jabbed me in the forehead, and smiled. "You graduate next week, don't you?"_

 _I nodded._

" _Being a genin is an important role in the village, but hardly all you're capable of." He said. "When I get back, I expect you'll have already become a chunin."_

 _I shook my head, "No, I'll be more than that."_

" _You have a mission while I'm gone." He said firmly. "Protect Sarada."_

I glared at Sakura for a moment, then sighed. "I only have two days off… I don't want to spend tham arguing."

She softened, and seemed ashamed of the conversation. "Inari, I just… Ever since Naruto bought into that mission between the villages, that team you're on… it's changed you."

Ah yes… my team. "They're… different." I mumbled. "But Nanashi has good intentions… I believe he's going to do great things in this world. I want to be standing beside him when he does."

There was a quiet knock on the door, preventing the conversation from going any further. "Inari?"

I looked up to see Sarada standing in the doorway, grinning. "You're home!"

I smiled, "For the next two days at least."

She squealed in happiness, nearly toppling me over as she jumped on me. "Two whole days!? Really!? Can you help me train for my exams tomorrow?"

"Why do you think I took the time off?" I asked. "Meet me downstairs in ten minutes, we'll head out to the training grounds."

She took off down the hall. Sakura sighed, "I know I can't stop you from doing what you want to do… but please think of Sarada. What would she do if she found out who you're keeping company with?"

I grit my teeth together, glaring at her. Sakura was the closest thing I had to a mother. She had been so kind to me all my life. She provided for me when she had no obligations to. Lately it just seemed like we couldn't be in the same room for more than five minutes without arguing.

I walked over to my dresser, pulling out an outfit for training. A short sleeved black shirt with a high collar, and black pants. Sarada would often pick on me for my 'plain' wardrobe, but lesson number one for ninjas was to blend into the shadows. In my opinions, her colorful outfit wasn't really ideal for a ninja. The only color on my outfit was the Uchiha symbol on the back of the shirt.

Then again Naruto used to run around in an orange jacket and he became hokage.

Sakura forced a smile, trying to put the argument to the side for the sake of Sarada. "What are you going to teach her today?"

"She's excellent with her shuriken." I mumbled. "Her basic ninjutsu is good. It might be time to move onto more complex techniques."

"I already taught her how to release chakra from her fists upon impact… she could brush up on that. She uses a little to much chakra for me to say she's perfected it."

"I meant… teaching her some traditional Uchiha techniques." I wasn't sure what Sakura's reaction would be to that. She never had a problem with Sasuke teaching me things like the Fireball jutsu, or training me in the sharingan. But even with Sakura treating me like her own, deep down, I was not. And she might react differently to her real child being taught those techniques at a young age.

To her credit, she brushed it off. "Alright, but I don't want her coming home with her face all burned up and hair singed like you did your first day."

I chuckled, "That was mostly Sasuke's fault…"

 **LATER ON:  
**  
Sarada grinned as she made her clones disappear, "I'm not stressing the exams at all! I've got them in the bag."

I nodded, "There's no way you won't be graduating… why pull me out to train for it then?"

She sheepishly shrugged, looking at the ground, "Well… it wasn't exactly for training."

I raised an eyebrow, "Oh?"

She sighed, "I just… I just need to know something, alright?"

I sat down in the grass, gesturing for her to join me. She did. "What's so important you had to fake a training session?"

"Who are my parents?"

I paused, "Why would you ask that?"

"Before you came home, I got into an argument with mom. She wouldn't answer me when I asked her."

"Why would you even question it?"

She pointed at her face, frustration leaking into her voice. "I wear glasses! Sakura doesn't! Sasuke never did!"

She reached into her pouch, pulling out a picture frame holding a photograph of Sasuke and Sakura. "See this picture? It's not just one, there's two."

She took the two of them apart, showing me. "Sasuke is standing next to this lady and… she's got glasses like mine."

I chuckled, "Sarada, you wear glasses because you got a fever when you were a baby."

She paused, letting the two pictures settle onto her lap. "I did?"

"Yeah. You got a really high fever, and the medics did everything they could. We were worried you might suffer permanent damage, and you did. Ever since then, your vision was bad. Your eye problems aren't in any way genetic." I explained.

She pondered this for a moment, "Then why didn't mom tell me?"

"It's a painful memory for her." I explained. "I mean, the head medical ninja, not catching her daughters fever before it got so bad she suffered permanent damage? She's always blamed herself for it. Not that it's an extreme condition or anything, but it just brings back bad memories I suppose."

She nodded slowly, "I just… why isn't Papa around?"

I sighed, "Are things so bad between you and Sakura you can't even ask her that?"

"I do ask her!" She hissed, "But she never tells me! She's always so vague, or just avoids the subject completely."

"Probably for the same reason, painful memories." I explained. "Listen, I'll tell you anything you want to know, but you have to promise me you'll stop asking Sakura these things."

She's my mother." Sarada said bitterly. "I should be able to ask these things."

"You should, but your parents are a very special case. There's a lot of history between them, and even I don't know all of it. But what I do know is most of it is painful. It's a miracle they managed to be together, in the end." I explained.

She nodded slowly, "So… why isn't Papa around?"

"Your father made a lot of mistakes in his life. Particularly when he was young. About your age actually." I mumbled. "We're not going to get to in-depth, for several reasons. Mostly because you're still his daughter, and you need to be able to respect him as your father. If you knew everything, you might not be able to understand. When you're older, maybe."

"Just tell me what you can, please!" She begged.

"Well, one of the mistakes he made was running away from the leaf village. It made him a rouge ninja. He committed several crimes against the leaf village, and in order to pay back his dept to them, he was basically charged with undoing everything he helped Orochimaru accomplish. Took years to accomplish it, it'll take years to undo it."

She blinked at me once, before collapsing onto the grass, groaning. "My Papa is a rogue ninja…"

"No, he just used to be one."

She groaned again, then sat up straight faster than I could throw a kunai. "Wait a second… then why isn't my birth certificate in Konoha's records?"

"Because you weren't born here." I explained. "Sakura used to travel with Sasuke, and she gave birth to you in one of Orochimaru's hide outs. Don't even think of trying to find a way to disprove that. I was there. I heard everything."

She winced, rubbing the back of her neck. "I guess I really made a mess of things, huh?"

"You didn't do anything wrong." I stood up, extending a hand to her, "Come on, I'll teach you a secret Uchiha technique."

She grinned, "The Sharingan!?"

I almost wanted to wince at her excitement. The Sharingan was a touchy subject for me. My parentage was no secret around the village, and my fathers name instilled fear in the villagers even to this day. My eyes, permanently showing the red and black colors of the Sharingan, were often met with fear and hatred. Which is why I always wore sunglasses, unless I was just around friends and family. The last time I had tried to walk around the village without them, I had just been a genin. Young and foolish, I had thought that if I merely showed the others that I was no threat, that I simply wanted to help protect this village, then I would gain their trust and admiration. Perhaps even companionship. But that hope was bashed very quickly. I had been met with threats and taunts and even physical assault by my classmates at the ninja academy.

While Sarada and I didn't share the same father, I often worried about how the villagers would react if she ever achieved her Sharingan. I hope she never does. She can become a strong ninja without it. Tons of people have, she could to. She might not like it, but it's honestly the best option for her.

"No, you can't teach the Sharingan." I explained. "Sharingan is only unlocked in a moment of extreme emotion. Usually fear or anger."

She cocked her head to the side, "What made you unlock yours?"

"Fear." I answered. "Moving on, what I'm teaching you today is the fire ball jutsu!"

Her eyes widened, "Really!?"

I nodded, "But first, we have to make sure that fire is your dominant element!"

"What's that mean?" She asked.

"Everyone has the capability to do water, fire, lightning, wind, or earth type jutsus. But everyone has a chakra preference to one stronger than the others." I took out a slip of chakra paper from my bag. "Just push a bit of your chakra into this, and it'll tell us. Either it'll get wet, split in half, catch fire, turn to sand, or crackle with electricity."

She took the paper, and within a second, it burned. She grinned, "Alright, what are the hand signs!?"

"No, no." I said, "Can't do it here. There's a special place with have to do it. Tradition and all that."

She sighed, "Nothing is ever simple with you!"

I poked her forehead, "Nothing is simple with any Uchiha."

She started to pout, so I changed the topic of conversation. "How have your classes been? Anything interesting happen with your friends?"

Her pout quickly turned into a grin, and she launched into a story about Boruto and her training together.


	2. Chapter 2

Sarada stuck close behind me as we walked through the ruins of the Uchiha complex. I don't know if she knew the entire story of what happened here all those years ago, but judging by how nervous she looked she definitely knew something. We walked until we got to the pond in the middle of the complex, walking out onto the dock. Weather and exposure had taken their toll to the wood. Pieces of it were rotting off and it creaked loudly whenever stepped on. All we had to fear from it was falling into the water, so I didn't care.

I brought Sarada to the edge of the pond, "This is where Sasuke taught me how to do the fire ball jutsu."

Her eyes widened with interest, latching onto any information about her father. I didn't realize it was this bad for her. I mean, I missed Sasuke too, but at least I had memorize to fall back n. She had nothing. "This is also where Sasuke was taught that jutsu, by his father."

 _Sasuke stood behind me, watching as I practiced the hand signs. "I was taught this jutsu in this exact spot. As was Itachi."_

 _I paused, looking back at Sasuke, "Itachi? Really?"_

 _He nodded, "From what my father said, Itachi got this jutsu right on his first try."_

" _Did you get it right your first try?"_

"… _Do the jutsu."_

Sarada calmly practiced the hand sign, mumbling their titles as she did so. "Alright, now face the water, concentrate your chakra in the back of your throat, and once your final hand sign is done, push the chakra out."

She nodded, turning towards the water.

"Wait, wait!" I said, suddenly remembering Sakura's warning. Sarada paused, letting me pull her hair back with a hair tie, before resuming. "Ok go ahead."

She went through the hand signs, and with my Sharingan I could see the chakra building in the back of her throat. She leaned back, then forward, pushing the chakra out. The resulting fireball was about as big as my hand, staying for a few seconds and then turning to smoke.

Sarada turned back to me, frowning. "Did… Did I do it wrong?"

"No, you're just new at this. It's gonna take some practice for you to get it like this…" I formed the hand signs, pushing out my chakra to make a huge fire ball that singed the grass on the sides of the pond. "It'll take a long time, but you'll get there."

"How long did it take you?" She asked.

First time. "Oh, a few weeks. You just have to get used to using a lot of chakra."

Sarada nodded, and began her hand signals again. Without prompt, she dutifully practiced the jutsu over and over, going nearly an hour with it, until she was nearly out of chakra. She did make progress, it was nearly twice as large as it had been the first time. When I saw her trying to form the jutsu again, with how low her chakra was, I stopped her.

"Alright Sarada, you've done enough for today. As I said, this will simply take time."

She opened her mouth to protest, but I shook my head, "Sarada, your face is burned."

Her eyes widened, lifting her hand to touch her cheeks. She winced as she felt the minor burn marks. "Come on, let's get you home. Sakura probably had ten different kinds of ointment for burns."

She giggled, "Try twenty."

Turns out, Sarada was right. Sakura spent nearly half an hour fussing over Sarada's face, applying three different ointments to the burns. Had she been in the infirmary, she probably would have just tossed the patient a tube of basic burn ointment and mumbled instructions. But Sarada was her daughter, and she was one overprotective mother.

Sakura sighed, finally done with pampering Sarada. She turned to me. "So, Inari, how did Sarada's training go?"

"She knows the fireball jutsu now." I explained. "Maybe tomorrow she'll show it to you."

Sakura clapped her hands, "Oh wow! You're learning to use your fire chakra! Oh, your father would be so proud!"

Sarada's eyes shot to me. They showed excitement, and wariness. She wanted to talk about her father, but afraid to open the subject up. Sakura might react badly. No worries little sis, I got you.

I smiled, "Hey, auntie, do you remember that day, about a month after we met, Me, you, Sasuke, and the rest of his team, we all went out for BBQ?"

She paused a moment, before her eyes lit up, "Oh, yes! I do. You were about six, right?"

"A few months away from my sixth birthday, I think." I corrected, sitting down on the sofa next to Sarada, "You remember what happened that day, right?"

She chuckled, sitting on the other side of Sarada. "Yes, you were quite the spectacle. Sasuke wasn't much better though."

Sarada turned to Sakura, timidly asking, "What happened?"

 _Sakura nudged Sasuke as we walked through the village, "There's a nice restaurant over there, let's go eat!"_

 _Sasuke shook his head, "We have provisions to last us a week."_

 _Sakura grabbed his arm, yanking him back to make him stare into her eyes. Instinctively, I stepped behind Suigetsu, who smirked at my reaction._

 _Sasuke leaned back a bit from Sakura as she leaned in, eyes deadly as she whispered, "The baby wants it."_

 _Sasuke looked down at her belly. At eight months pregnant, Sakura looked ready to pop. He nodded, "Alright, alright. We'll eat there, ok?"_

 _Sakura beamed, releasing Sasuke's arm to hug him tightly, "Aw, thank you Sasuke!"_

 _As they headed into the restaurant, the rest of us followed. Suigetsu ruffled my hair, "Don't be so quick to hide, she's not that scary."_

 _I glared up at him, "She's terrifying."_

 _A hostess led us over to a table that had a grill build into it, handing us menus. I gulped, looking at the long list of items that I couldn't read. How was I supposed to act natural if I couldn't read? Karin already thought I was stupid, I didn't wanna give her another reason. Sakura gave a long list for herself, while Sasuke, Karin, Jugo, and Suigetsu ordered one item. The waitress asked me last, and I panicked, copying Jugo's order of chicken._

 _The waitress didn't notice my expression of fear, simply taking my menu back and saying the food would be ready soon. Everyone resumed idle chatter, except Suigetsu, who was staring at me. I glared back at him, "What?"_

 _The others glanced our way, not really paying attention until Suigetsu took out his bingo book, flipping to a random page. He smirked, showing it to me, "Hey, Inari, my eyes are a bit tired, think you can tell me what this man's last known location is?"_

 _And just like that, everyone was paying attention to me. Jugo and Sakura were looking at me with concern, Karin with some sense of superiority, and Sasuke simply looked interested. I took Suigetsu's book slowly, wanting to somehow prolong my answer. I ran my eyes over the page. The man had dark skin, and pure white eyes. Was he blind? Probably. I could tell that the first line was likely his name, and the second line was numbers. Perhaps his birth date? The rest was broken up into chunky paragraphs, and I strained to find a word I knew._

 _Some words I could recognize because of how they were used in signs, like stop, exit, etc. I knew what my name was spelled like, and several other names. I knew numbers fairly well, enough to tell the time. But throughout this page, I couldn't see any words I knew. At the very last paragraph, I saw a word I remembered seeing on a map that Sakura once showed me. I nearly grinned as I remembered what Sakura had said as she had pointed to that word._

 _I looked up at Suigetsu with what I hoped was a neutral expression, trying to contain my smugness. "Konoha."_

 _To my disappointment, Suigetsu chuckled, "No. He's from Konoha. Didn't you read the sentence?"_

 _I nervously looked up to see Sakura giving me a soft smile. She reached over the table, patting my hand, "Inari, it's ok if you can't read."_

 _Suigetsu reached over to take his book back, "Considering how you were raised, it's not surprising. Nothing saying you can't learn, right?"_

 _Sasuke spoke up, "It'll take a few months to learn."_

 _I looked up at him, "Months?!"_

 _He chuckled, "The sharingan can't help you learn to read."_

 _I grinned back, "I thought you said the sharingan could do anything."_

 _Sakura laughed, "Don't let him fool you, even the Uchiha clan has their short comings."_

 _Sasuke, rolled his eyes at her, a rare display of emotion. "Inari, I'll start teaching you to read tomorrow. By the end of the day, you will have the basics down. You'll have those lessons every day, on top of your training."_

 _Sakura sighed, "Come on Sasuke, she's just a kid."_

 _I shook my head, "No, I'm a shinobi!"_

" _Not yet." Sasuke corrected. "You haven't gone to the academy, nor have you been given a village headband."_

 _I frowned, "Then I'm a rouge shinobi."_

 _Suigetsu snorted, nearly choking on his water. Jugo and Karin chuckled as Sasuke looked beyond frustrated._

 _Sakura gave him a look. "Apple doesn't fall far from the tree."_

Sakura laughed as the story ended, "You have no idea how mad Sasuke was after that! He wouldn't stop lecturing Inari on the meaning of teamwork and what belonging to a village really means."

"For days." I said, remembering how long Sasuke had talked.

Sarada chuckled, looking at a picture of Sasuke on the far wall. "Papa is a bit… strict, isn't he?"

Sakura shrugged, "A bit-"

"Extremely." I countered. "But trust me."

I rolled my sleeve up, showing the tattoo on my right shoulder. The anbu black ops tattoo showed proudly. "His methods pay off."


	3. Chapter 3

The sun was nearly setting, the roar of the waterfall drowning out almost all other noise. Not even twenty feet from me, my opponent stood. We sized each other, trying to find weaknesses and strengths. Usually, just looking at somebody isn't enough to find out much. But it's different with us. We know nearly everything about each other. If someone had glanced in our direction, they might have confused us for sisters. Mainly because of our long dark hair, our red eyes, and our identical posture.

"Ready?" Mirai asked.

I nodded, easily sliding into a fighting stance. She took out her chakra blades. There was one split second of hesitation, and then she charged. My sword and her blades clashed several times before she finally charged them, and I flipped away from her.

"Fire Ball Jutsu!"

"Flying Swallow!"

It always began with ninjutsu, and as chakra dwindled low, turned into taijutsu. We went back and forth for about two hours until she finally tripped me. As I hit the ground, she held her blade to my neck.

She smiled proudly, "Looks like I win this one."

She got off me, helping me stand. "Although, if you hadn't been so distracted, it might have ended differently."

I sighed, "You could tell?"

She nodded, "Come on, let's rest awhile."

We sat on the edge of the cliff, watching the waterfall for awhile. Her mom had packed her rice cakes, and Sakura had packed me canned green tea, so we shared.

"How's ANBU going?" She asked.

"My troops have progressed to the point where they don't require my supervision, merely instruction, and-"

"Inari. I'm not your superior officer. Tell me how you feel about it." She said firmly.

I sighed, staring at the waterfall. The setting sun made the water look bright orange and red. Almost like fire.

"Joining ANBU was my dream." I whispered. "It's all I ever really wanted when I was a kid. But…"

"But you aren't a kid anymore." She finished.

"Exactly." I sighed, leaning back to look up at the sky. "I almost feel like I've reached a stalemate in life."

She shrugged, "It happens sometimes. I guess you either push forward in the ANBU, or you leave them."

I shook my head. "I could never leave the ANBU. It's all I've ever known."

"Change can be scary, but it's a good thing."

I was going to retort that change wasn't a good thing, but I was interrupted by a voice at the tree line.

"BIG SISTER!"

Mirai smiled, "Looks like training is over for the day."

I stood up just as Sarada rushed me, hugging me. "Hey, Sarada! How was your review today?"

She beamed up at me, "I got a perfect score on my review, and my sensei thinks I'm going to pass at the top of my class!"

I grabbed her, picking her up and twirling her around, "That's wonderful!"

She giggled, "Inari, stop!"

I set her down, laughing, "Alright, alright."

She looked between me and Mirai, "Oh, did you two fight?"

"It's training, not actual fighting." I explained, "You'll do it a lot once you become a genin."

"You won, right?" Sarada asked.

Mirai chuckled, finding Sarada's need to have me reaffirm my status as the toughest ninja she knew humerous.

"Training isn't about winning, it's about improving your skills and-"

"I totally won." Mirai said, smirking. "It was almost too easy."

Sarada shook her fist at Mirai, "You liar! No one can beat my sister! Especially you!"

Mirai frowned, "Especially me? What's that supposed to mean?"

Sarada stomped her foot, "My sister is an ANBU captain! The youngest ANBU captain in history! You're just a chunin!"

Mirai sputtered at Sarada's boldness, "H-hey! Rank has nothing to do with strength or skill! Naruto was a genin for the majority of his life!"

"That's rich, coming from the chunin who didn't make ANBU!" Sarada hissed.

"Sarada!"

She stopped, turning to look at me.

"Did you come out here to tell me something?" I asked.

"Oh, yeah. Mom wants you home, right now."

I ran a hand through my hair, sighing. "And you waited this long to tell me?"

She shrugged, "I got distracted. But you did win, right?"

"Your new sensei has their work cut out for them."

We said our goodbyes to Maria, and went home. Sakura was waiting for me outside on the balcony. "Sarada, could you give me and Inari a moment alone?"

Sarada gave me a pitying look, then walked inside. Sakura turned to me, and surprisingly, she wasn't mad. She looked excited. "I have a surprise planned for Sarada!"

"Oh?"

She reached into her pocket, pulling out a stack of money. "She's going to pass her exams tomorrow, I'm sure of it! I wanted to get her something special, a new outfit! I love her little skirt and tie, it's really cute, but it's not exactly ninja clothing, ya know?"

I nodded, "You… you want me to get it?"

She chuckled, "I've been out of the lower ranks for awhile, so I'm not to sure what all the new genin and chunin are wearing these days. And I know she talks to you more than me, so you'd know what she likes. If you hurry, I think some of the clothing stands down at the market are still open!"

I nodded, giving her a small smile, "I know just what to get her."

"Great!" Sakura leaned in, kissing my forehead, "I'll leave a plate of dinner out for you!"

I headed towards the market, taking out a pair of sunglasses I use whenever I go out in public. See, ever since I came to this village, people have feared me, and some have hated me. Being the daughter of Itachi, the Demon of the Uchiha clan, those reactions were to be expected. After a few walks around the village gone wrong, I had started wearing very dark sunglasses whenever I was around anyone other than close friends and family. Yeah, sometimes it looked a little silly, especially wearing them after the sun set, but it was better than dealing with people running away in fear. Or throwing things at me out of hatred.

To be honest, that hadn't happened since I was a genin. I had started wearing the sunglasses when I was in my last year at the academy, and hadn't ever stopped. When I made ANBU, I always wore a mask. Most people I work with in ANBU don't even know I have the sharingan. Or that I'm an Uchiha, because of the code names we use.

Because of my consistent use, and how I don't socialize with anyone who isn't a ninja, I don't think any of the villages ever remember what I look like. Which Is probably why I'm not recognized even though only my eyes are covered. They were black framed, sport style sunglasses that were thick so as to not break or scratch easily. That way wearing them on missions when I had been a genin and chunin hadn't lead to them being destroyed.

Sakura was right, a lot of stands were still open, and I picked up a few small things, kunai pouches, gloves, and a few rolls of wrap. Then I went to a store in the center of town where me and Mirai normally picked up clothed for missions.

"Hey, Inari!"

I looked up, "Mirai?"

She nodded, "Yeah, I thought you went home. Did Sakura kick you out or something?"

"No, she sent me out to get a gift for Sarada. She's graduating tomorrow." I explained, examining the window displays. "I want it to be something special."

She was silent for a moment, "Where is Sarada anyways?"

I didn't look up at her, to busy trying to decide between the black top of the red jumper. I'd prefer the black, just my personal choice. But I know Sarada likes red. "Hmm? Oh, she's still at home."

"She doesn't have any reason to be running around the leaf village with Chocho?" Mirai asked.

Feeling that was the weirdest question she had ever asked me, I spun around to look at her, "What?"

Mirai gestured out the shop window, "Isn't that Sarada and her friend Chocho?"

I rushed to the front of the shop, and saw Sarada and Chocho jumping rooftops, going towards the edge of the village. "N-no! No she doesn't have a reason!"

Mirai chuckled as we both took off after Sarada, "Maybe it's training?"

"I doubt it." I growled.

We followed them, even as they left the village. They were in the treetops, obviously following someone else.

"Inari, can you see who they're following?"

"I have the sharingan, not the byakugan. But I can sense a chakra signature, and it's really big." I said.

"How much further are you going to let them go?" Mirai asked. "They're getting to the edge of our territory!"

"Let's go ahead and stop them."

It wasn't hard to get in front of Sarada and Chocho. After all, Mirai and I had only been going about half what we were capable of.

Once we were in front, we turned around. Mirai leaned against the trunk of the tree she was standing on. I stood straight, arms crossed as Sarada came into view. She and Chocho stopped immediately. Chocho looked scared, but Sarada just looked desperate.

"Inari! I have to-"

"You have to get back to the village, that's what you have to do."

"Inari, you don't understand."

"Fine. Tell me what's going on. Who are you following?"

"Lord Hokage."

Mirai raised an eyebrow, "Why on earth would you follow him?"

"Inari, don't you understand?! He's going to see my father!" Sarada screamed in desperation.

I froze, "H-he's going to see Sasuke?"

Chocho nodded nervously, "Y-yeah, we heard him saying he has to go see him to get information on a mission."

Sasuke is up ahead? Why wouldn't he send word he was going to be in the area? Why didn't Lord Hokage tell me or Sakura? What was so important about this mission?

Sarada straightened her posture, tears starting to well up in her eyes. "Inari, I have to see my father!"

I took a deep breath. "Were you ordered by any shinobi of higher rank to accompany Lord Hokage on what I'm sure is a classified operation?"

Sarada started crying harder, "N-no, but it's-"

"Sarada!" I snapped. She flinched. "You are about to become a ninja of The Hidden Leaf Village. It's an honorable career, and you will be responsible to protect all the citizens of the village. Not only will your actions here reflect badly on yourself, you are reflecting badly upon the Uchiha and Haruno families!"

She hung her head a moment, in what I assumed was shame. I jumped over to her branch, attempting to offer to kind of comfort before I escorted her back to the village. But the second my feet hit the branch, her head snapped up.

I nearly fell off the branch at the sight of her. She stared defiantly back at me, her eyes red with a single tomoe. "I. Am. Meeting. My. Father."

Without another word, Sakura jumped past me, continuing on her pursuit of Lord Hokage. Chocho, to her credit, stuck with her friend, and left with her. Mirai was posed to go after them, but stopped, seeing me staring dumbfound after Sarada.

"Inari? Inari, what's wrong?"

I left myself fall back, sitting on the branch. I put my head in my hands, shaking my head back and forth rapidly. "No. No, no, no. This can't be happening."

Mirai jumped over to me, placing a hand on my shoulder, "Inari! What's wrong with you!?"

I rested a hand over my eyes, shaking, "It's not fair. She shouldn't have to- have to bear this burden."

Mirai sank to one knee beside me, "Inari, I know the sharingan was practically a curse on you, but Sarada is in a much different position! It's not going to be the same, I promise."

"Even if it's not… just the burden of carrying this Kekkei-Genkai, the history of it's use… the villagers might turn against her… her classmates, maybe even the Jonin she's assigned to… Mirai, this is not a popular power to have! It's practically taboo!"

Mirai grabbed my shoulders shaking me, "Inari, look, I know you're going through some sort of break down right now, but your little sister just took off after Lord Hokage, in a hair brained attempt to meet her father. I don't know what kind of mission Sasuke is on, but I'm betting it's at least A rank, if not S rank. And Sarada is about to make contact with him."

I panicked, bolting right up and racing forward. Sarada might have awakened her Sharingan, but she was still a long ways away from not needing my protection.


	4. Chapter 4

By the time we had caught up to Sarada, it was an odd sight. In front of her stood a young man, obviously a ninja, with white hair the creepiest vibe I have ever gotten from someone. But what really took me back were his eyes. He had the sharingan. Sarada had obviously been fighting him, and from the looks of it she had held her own, but had been beaten up a bit.

She beamed up at me as I landed next to her. "Inari!"

The man glared at me, "Who are you?"

"My name is not important." I said casually, pushing Sarada behind me. Mirai fell dutifully next to me, protecting Chocho. "What is important here, is who you are attacking."

"He's an Uchiha!" Sarada exclaimed.

I snorted, "Having the sharingan doesn't make you an Uchiha, anymore than having a white robe makes you a kage."

His glare got even more vicious, "What gives you the right to speak of such things!?"

I reached up to my face, sliding my sunglasses up to rest on my head as I revealed my sharingan. "My birthright."

He reeled back a little, "U-uchiha?!"

"More of an Uchiha than you." I said firmly.

He pulled out a kunai, grinning wickedly. "We'll see about that."

I charged him before he could get any closer, easily batting his kunai away and throwing him into a tree. I made two shadow clones, and each of us made a chidori. We all rushed him from different angles, and while he managed to evade me once, my two clones pinned him down, each delivering a small chidori to his back. He fell to the ground, gasping.

"Inari!" I looked back to see Lord Hokage, standing in front of Sarada. "Who is that man?"

I looked back down at where he had landed, to see he wasn't there anymore. I tensed, trying to sense his chakra, but it was already miles away. "Whoever he is, he retreated."

Lord Hokage nodded, before crossing his arms, "Now, does anyone want to tell me why all of you are here?"

Sarada took out a boxed lunch, "Um, Boruto was supposed to deliver this to you, but I figured I would be nice and take it to you!"

I glared up at her, "Young lady…"

She sighed, "Lord hokage… I really want to meet my father!"

Naruto looked shocked, "W-who told you I was meeting Sasuke?"

Sarada rubbed the back of her head sheepishly. "Um… I overheard you talking about it."

Naruto looked over at me, "And you two, Inari, Mirai?"

"Mirai and I noticed them leaving the village and we followed to bring them back." I explained.

Sarada shook her head, "Please, Lord Hokage, don't let them take us back! I just want to meet my father, please!"

Naruto paused, staring at her. Even I was staring at her. I wasn't used to her having the sharingan. "Fine, you can come."

I stiffened, and Naruto sighed, "It would be better to send you all back to konoha, but that man, he was clearly targeting you, Sarada. It would be safer if we all stayed together."

I disagreed. I could obviously fight off Shin, and if he tried anything else it would mean the end for him. But… Sarada might never forgive me if I prevent her from seeing Sasuke. So I nodded, and we continued on our way.

After a few hours, we stopped to rest. Naruto spoke with Sakura a bit, and Mirai came over to me. "So, you're about to see Sasuke!"

I shrugged.

"You haven't seen him since you joined the academy, is that right?"

I nodded.

"That must have been, what? About eight years ago?"

I nodded.

She sighed, "It's ok to be excited, ya know?"

"I'm thrilled."

She rolled her eyes, "Really, I couldn't tell! Honestly I don't think I'm ever going to get used to your silence."

"You've known me for eight years." I smirked, "Figured you'd be used to it by now."

She shook her head, "You, Inari Uchiha, no one could ever get used to. But ya know what?"

I raised an eyebrow and she grinned, "You've gotten better about your fears."

Upon seeing my eyebrow still raised she shrugged, pointing at my head. "You kept your sunglasses off."

Now that she had mentioned it, all I could think about was putting my sunglasses back on. I tried to reason with myself, after all, the only people here were Mirai, my best friend, Sarada, my baby sister, Naruto, my old sensei, and Chocho, a girl whose opinion of me is entirely irrelevant. Reasoning with myself was impossible, and to Mirai's disappointment, I slowly pulled my sunglasses back on.

After Naruto finished his lunch, we started off again, and once we got closer, Sarada ran ahead. Out of concern, I bolted after her, against Mirai's shouting.

When I caught up to her, she was standing right in front of Sasuke. He was glaring down at her, and she was shaking in fear. His sword was pressed to her throat.

All of my ANBU training of having a measured voice and thinking situations through went out the window. "Sasuke!"

I had never moved so fast in my life, and I don't even really remember moving, I just remember batting sasuke's sword away with a kunai, and putting myself in between Sarada and him. My sharingan was barred in its full power, three tomoes staring him down.

He paused, frowning, "... Inari?"

I nodded. His gaze went to Sarada, and I could see it click on his face. He whirled around to look at Naruto, glare deadly. "Idiot! Why would you bring her here!?"

I could feel Sarada flinch, "H-he didn't bring me, I came without his permission!"

Sarada's gaze shifted to me, then back to Sasuke. "B-because, I wanna know who my mother really is!"

Wait, what? Was she still on about this? I had told her the truth! She… she didn't believe me?

Sasuke didn't answer her question, instead, he turned to me, "Inari. You let your younger cousin come here?"

Sarada snorted, "Shows what you know!"

Sasuke raised an eyebrow, looking to me for an explanation. I shrugged, "Myself and Sarada refer to each other as sisters."

Sarada raised her fist, shaking at a Sasuke, "Why!? Why haven't you been there for my life? I don't even have any memories of you! What could you have possibly been doing?"

Sasuke gave me a look, clearly unhappy with how misinformed Sarada was. It wasn't exactly my fault. I mean, some aspects of his history are just too personal for me to share! It's not my place. If anything, Sakura should have been the one to tell her.

Upon not getting any answers from Sasuke, Sarada bolted out of the building, tears running down her face. I took off after her, trying to console her, but before I could, two men appeared. One was clearly Shin, from earlier. The other man looked just like Shin, only taller, older.

"That's them, father." Shin said calmly.

Shin's father nodded solemnly, "So, they both have the sharingan?"

Shin nodded. "I'm certain of it."

I shoved Sarada behind me, taking out a kunai. I really wish I had my sword, but I left it at home. "Sarada, get back!"

Shin and his father both charged me at once. I tried to make shadow clones again, but they were both on me with swords before I could. I managed to dodge the first few attacks, but before long, Shin got me off my feet, and his father drove his sword with me. I fell to the ground, sputtering through my wound.

I could barely hear the sound of Naruto and Sasuke's screams, but I did hear a voice that I knew wasn't supposed to be there, Sakura. I heard her scream loudly, and someone get punched. God help whoever got punched.

After a few moments, the pain started to get more numb than anything, and I managed to stand. Sakura and Sasuke were helping Naruto to his feet. Oh, Naruto got stabbed too? His stab wound looks smaller than mine. Did Shin twist his blade after stabbing me? What a dick.

Naruto looked everyone over, then sighed. "We can't make it back to konoha. But Orochimaru has a hideout not too far from here. We can make that."

The thought of walking more than ten feet with this wound made me wanna grimace. But something else distracted me. "Where's Auntie?"

Sarada looked at me with big, hopeless eyes, "Shin took her!"

Mirai walked over to me, giving my wound a once over, "I don't think he got any internal organs."

"It doesn't matter." I growled, and we took off towards Orochimaru's hideout.

Sorry this took so long, the base I guard went into twelve hr shifts and I have been struggling just to keep up with work, sleep, and exercise.


End file.
